New Zealand Gold Kiwis

New Zealand Gold Kiwis are a popular world gold coin offering from this stunningly beautiful country in the South Pacific. The people of this land are known as Kiwis for the bird that graces these coins. With a quarter ounce of almost pure gold, these coins make fantastic investment and retirement portfolio holdings besides being valuable collectors' pieces as well.

Photo Courtesy of APMEX

New Zealand Gold Kiwis History and Background

New Zealand Gold Kiwis feature the timeless bird of New Zealand which can not fly, the Kiwi. It is a beloved animal, both in real life in its natural habitat as well as on the front side of coins. This bullion gold coin features the Rakiura Tokeka, known as the only Kiwi bird which is active during the day, as opposed to its nocturnal cousins.

These gems are not produced by an official government mint in New Zealand although they are backed by the government of the beloved country. This is because there is no official government mint for New Zealand. The only mint within the country is the privately held and operated New Zealand Mint, a firm which produces official bullion coins for a number of other South Pacific island countries. These coins are actually struck by the Mayer Mint Germany.

Photo Courtesy of Mayer Mint Germany

The Mayer Mint Germany is a proudly family run private minting company that boasts five generations of family ownership stretching back to its founding in 1871. Because the traditional company chose to embrace development and innovation constantly, they have achieved higher levels of recognition around the world. It is the unparalleled skills of their Mint Masters which justify their reputation. They strike not only legal tender precious metals products, but also commemorative versions of coins as well as medals. This quality comes from a tremendous pride in their handiwork, minting processes employing the most current technology in the industry, rigorously enforced quality control, and the spirit embodied in five generations of a family famous for its Mint Masters.

New Zealand Gold Kiwis Physical Characteristics

As products of the Mayer Mint Germany, the New Zealand Gold quarter ounce Kiwis are backed by this private company. The government of New Zealand also backs them as sovereign bullion currency. Both groups pledge that the coins all meet the specifications of gold purity, weight, and metal content.

Coin Design

Both collectors and investors utilize the word “obverse” in order to describe the front side of any coin. New Zealand Gold Kiwis feature a portrait of Her Britannic Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, also the queen of New Zealand as a commonwealth nation. Ian Rank Broadley created this right facing portrait which is commonly used on the reverse side of official government backed coins in Commonwealth nations. His initials appear at the base of the queen's neck. Besides this, the coin depicts the words “NEW ZEALAND” to the left of the queen's bust and “ELIZABETH II” to the right of Her Majesty. The year of minting is located in the bottom center along the rim.

Photos Courtesy of APMEX

Coin enthusiasts similarly employ a technical word for the back side of any coin, calling it the “reverse.” This beautiful and memorable coin portrays the Rakiura Tokeka Kiwi bird as it wanders along a beach on Rakiura in the daylight. Above the animal is the phrase “APTERYX AUSTRALIS LAWRYI.” Along the bottom of the center rim is the coin's denomination, “TEN DOLLARS.”

Coin Specifications

New Zealand Gold Kiwis come in several different sizes (and accompanying denominations), including one quarter and one tenth ounces. The specifications for the most popular one quarter ounce size are as follows:

Mass: 7.78 grams

Diameter: 20.6 mm

Thickness: 2 mm

Metal Content: 0.25 troy ounce

Gold Purity: 99.99% pure

New Zealand Gold Kiwis Pricing

New Zealand Gold Kiwis in the popular quarter ounce size were struck with an official legal tender of $10 value. As such, they have the full backing of the New Zealand national government and can be spent anywhere in the country. This would be a senseless act though, since the gold content of the coin is worth over $250 today. Along with the underlying spot price of gold, the market value from such coins is derived from an additional premium because of the comparatively small mintages along with the coins' unique appeal and collectable value. This is why these coins retail for a higher price than the spot price of gold.

This market value of these coins is actually the most important. It provides any portfolios which contain them with their actual value. Gold prices go up and down all during the market trading week. These coins do tend to move in tandem with the changes to the world gold prices from Sunday through close of day Friday. It is easy for you to learn the current gold prices by simply navigating over to our home page.

Can IRA Accounts Contain New Zealand Gold Kiwis?

New Zealand Gold Kiwis are some of the most appealing and unique of government backed bullion coins in the world today, and their original mintage is limited for each year. In order to open your precious metals IRA, you will have to request that your IRA account administrator place a first order for at least $5,000 in precious metals purchases on your new account. Once this is done, you may carry out additional precious metals purchases in your gold IRA with only $1,000 minimum in additional purchases.

If you are unsure about whether or not the IRS will allow you to include these gems within your precious metals IRA accounts, be aware that they judge them on a primarily two-fold standard which includes gold fineness and low collectability. The IRS insists that these coins carry .995 in minimum gold fineness. These coins surpass this purity level with .9999 gold fineness, but unfortunately the IRS has decided that they are too rare and carry too high a premium over world gold prices to be inventoried within your self directed IRAs. They still make wonderful selections for other types of retirement, investment, and collector accounts and portfolios. In order to buy them, you will need to contact a reputable bullion dealer or world gold coin shop which is willing to track them down for you.

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